The following discussion of the background art is intended to facilitate an understanding of the present invention only. The discussion is not an acknowledgement or admission that any of the material referred to is or was part of the common general knowledge as at the priority date of the application.
The Applicant has developed or at least proposed various systems for harnessing wave energy in a body of water and converting the harnessed wave energy to pressurised fluid which typically comprises water drawn from the body of water itself. Where the body of water comprises an ocean, seawater drawn from the ocean may be piped under high-pressure to shore for use. The high-pressure seawater may, for example, be used to drive a turbine and the shaft power from the turbine used to generate electricity. Further, the high-pressure seawater may be fed to a reverse osmosis desalination unit to yield potable water. In such an arrangement, the salt water concentrate exiting the desalination unit, which is still under pressure, may be fed to a turbine and the shaft power used to generate electricity. Typical examples of such wave energy conversion systems are disclosed in WO 2007/019640, WO 2008/052286, WO 2009/076712, WO 2009/076714 and WO 2010/115241.
Such systems have required connection back to shore in the form of high pressure pipelines connecting the unit to a shore based station for processing the high pressure fluid produced. Installation of high pressure pipelines to shore represent a significant cost to these prior art systems. Further, they represent an ongoing risk to the successful operation of these prior art systems as any loss of pressure directly affects operation of the system.
It is against this background, and the problems and difficulties associated therewith, that the present invention has been developed.